GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- An MLive story about a suggestion by State Superintendent Mike Flanagan that paying teachers $100,000 a year would encourage more students -- especially those skilled in math and science -- to enter the education field drew a strong reaction from readers.

Reader reaction to Flanagan's suggestion, which he made while discussing new science education standards for K-12 education, was mixed.

Some readers embraced it, saying it would lure more skilled workers to the profession. Others said that while paying teachers a competitive salary is important, the extra dollars would be better used by hiring more teachers, which would lower class sizes and create more individual attention for students.

"I believe if we could create a system of having high-quality teachers who teach in those low-quality life areas, kids who live there will enlighten their communities because they will go off to college and get degrees and create business.

Having a first round draft pick will greaten your chances to getting to the Super Bowl. And you pay high price for them to be on your team for a number of years. You get what you pay for, and education is something that's worth the investment."

"Flanagan has never been a very good state superintendent, a position that is more about politics than about creating policies that are good for children. He is wrong about luring teachers with $100,000 salaries. What teachers desperately need is the respect of the culture in which they teach. If you look at places like Finland and Korea, top scoring nations, you will find low salaries but high esteem for teachers. The inevitable comments against teachers that always appear tacked onto education pieces are so incredibly demoralizing for the people who walk alone into a classroom of 30 kids. Not a single crank who speaks so disrespectfully of teachers would last a day in a classroom.
I've been an educator for almost 40 years, 30 of those as a public school teacher. I can tell you that teachers never go into the profession to make buckets of money. Nor do they go into the profession in order to get summers off (a myth, by the way because most teachers take classes and prepare for the next school year). They go into it because they want to make a difference; they want to help students love learning."

Another reader, thisguy73, said the idea of increasing teacher salaries would work only if certain conditions were included.

"This would be a good idea if AND ONLY if it was combined with the ability to easily fire the failing teachers. Michelle Rhee (of studentsfirst.org) offered the D.C. teachers $140K salaries for the top 5% or whatnot if she could fire the bottom 5%. The union rejected it. They would rather have tenure and absolute job security (short of scandal and even in scandal often teachers just get moved rather than fired), than a pay scale based on merit and ability."

Flanagan's comment also spurred discussion on whether teachers are being thoroughly prepared for their job, and whether money is enough to entice someone to become a teacher.
Lisa Wininger said she doubts a bigger pay check would convince more people to enter the profession.

"I think that the biggest misconception in the superintendent's statement is that a salary of 100K would entice someone who wasn't already interested in teaching to teach. Regardless of the days off and the benefits, the work involved in managing as many as 150 kids per day just simply doesn't appeal to many. It's a tough job that requires a lot of humility, acceptance of ambiguity, and is quite often the locus of hostility from a wide range of people. Sure, I wish teachers got paid more, just like I wish lots of other people working at mid and lower level paying jobs made more. But just saying that math and science teachers would get paid a premium is not enough, in my opinion, to make a non-teacher into a teacher, or keep them there more than a few years."

elipas added that administrators should focus on investing in the classroom instead of salaries.

"Teaching conditions need to change. Students need text books, desks, and structure. Teachers need classrooms with an appropriate amount of students. Teachers need support from the Administrators and THE SCHOOL BOARD!"
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